In spite of numerous advances in medical research, cancer remains the second leading cause of death in the United States. In the industrialized nations, roughly one in five persons will die of cancer. Traditional modes of clinical care, such as surgical resection, radiotherapy and chemotherapy, have a significant failure rate, especially for solid tumors. Failure occurs either because the initial tumor is unresponsive, or because of recurrence due to regrowth at the original site and/or metastases.
Cellular immunotherapy is emerging as a technologically and intellectually compelling anti-cancer treatment. The generation of an immune response against tumors has been demonstrated in several animal models and has been inferred from reports of spontaneous tumor regression in man (Stotter and Lotze (1990) Cancer Cells 2:44–55). Cytotoxic T-lymphocyte (CTL) responses can be directed against antigens specifically presented by tumor cells, both in vivo and in vitro, without the need for prior knowledge of the molecular mechanism by which the tumor arose. In animal models, established tumors can be eradicated by the adoptive transfer of educated T-cells that are specifically immune to the malignant cells (Beun et al. (1994) Immunol. Today 15:11–15).